Question:
Just FYI, there’s a mis-snip here somewhere. I was not the one who posted the first paragraph quoted below, though I was involved in the thread from which it’s quoted. Otherwise, it’s a great post. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – >[xposted to alt.parenting.solutions and misc.kids.pregnancy] >On another thread in alt.parenting.solutions >>I know that while I was pregnant I chose to educate myself >>on BFing so that I would NOT be overwhelmed and could start a good >>nursing relationship with my expectant child. I found it was most >>helpful to do that. >I imagine these parents did no less. They just made a different choice. >I will not, in this particular post, deal with the particular case being >discussed. I wish to toss out some numbers from the U.S. that I think >suggest that most parents do not educate themselves. >Please note, I probably don’t know anybody here, certainly not well >enough to pass judgement on them, so please don’t take it as such. >Only 55% of babies get breastfed at all, 77% are breastfed for >2 months or less(including those who aren’t breastfed at all) and >only 28% are breastfed for five months or longer.
<remainder snuipped for brevity>
Response:
[xposted to alt.parenting.solutions and misc.kids.pregnancy] On another thread in alt.parenting.solutions >I know that while I was pregnant I chose to educate myself >on BFing so that I would NOT be overwhelmed and could start a good >nursing relationship with my expectant child. I found it was most >helpful to do that. >I imagine these parents did no less. They just made a different choice.
I will not, in this particular post, deal with the particular case being discussed. I wish to toss out some numbers from the U.S. that I think suggest that most parents do not educate themselves. Please note, I probably don’t know anybody here, certainly not well enough to pass judgement on them, so please don’t take it as such. Only 55% of babies get breastfed at all, 77% are breastfed for 2 months or less(including those who aren’t breastfed at all) and only 28% are breastfed for five months or longer. % bf %bf % % & 5+ employed who who took leave months took or were unemployed leave at time of birth Education: Bachelor’s 81 63 67 53 85 some coll. 63 49 60 44 85 HS or GED 49 46 51 36 83 age at birth of child: 30-44 yrs 69 62 62 48 87 25-29 yrs 56 52 55 41 86 20-24 yrs 46 41 47 30 82 income: 3xpoverty 68 53 1.5-3xpov 58 51 0-1.5xpov 43 49 |Notes on table: |1) The %breastfed at 5 months is the % of those babies that were | bf at all. |2) the %who took leave is of all mothers in that catagory | including unemployed |3) The employment and breastfeeding data come from two overlapping | populations. |4) This data is taken from a long term study with roughly 10,000 | women participating, done by the CDC. |5) The breastfeeding numbers have stayed roughly the same for | several years. Who is breastfeeding? Who is breastfeeding for more than 1/2 the recommended period of time? The educated and the older mothers. They are also the ones more likely to be employed. They probably get better prenatal care and have better access to bfing information. (and have had a longer period of time to have been exposed to that information). So no, I don’t think it is reasonable to assume that parents put a significant amount of time into educating themselves about the advantages of bfing. Why should they, after all they are told by society that the breast is for sex only and that formula is "more convenient" and "almost as good". Polite invitations to people to educate themselves are not IMHO out of line. Robert P.S. Two bits of information not directly related to my point, of those who breastfeed at all, approx. 50% breastfeed for at least 5 months and the average length of time bfing for those who bf 5+ months is about 1 year, regardless of what group is looked at.
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